The Rongngeng Music of the Balajan Troupe in Khuan Don District, Satun

Abstract

This research is a qualitative research in ethnomusicology which aim to 1) study the Rongngeng music of the Balajan Troupe in some aspects; historical background, musical instruments, ensembles, musicians, and performing occasions 2) transcript the music into standard notation and analyze the songs in musical methods. The research results found that 1) the Balajan Troupe is an ensemble which is nowadays still reserved the old traditional style of Rongngeng music. The ensemble today consists of 4 musicians with 4 main instruments: a violin, a small gong, and two frame drums. The ensemble usually performs for entertainments in some special occasions. 2) The music is transcript into standard notation, totally 18 songs, and shown the difference between the pitches of the violin of the Balajan Troupe and the standard pitches. Among these songs, the researcher selected 5 important songs which are different in meanings and characters: Ya Ngongmarae, Burong Torobang, Salaenang, Ma Enangsatoy, and Bunga Tanyong Chawle for musical analyzing. From the analysis, it is found that the songs are oral transmitted for a long time caused those composers are unknown. The songs, the strophic forms, have a set of notes G A B C D E and F which can be divided into a main group and a subgroup in tonesets. The melodic contours are mostly conjunct motion , both ascending and descending directions, and disjunct motion and undulating respectively. The ornamentations are found only in some songs. The songs, similarly in time signature (2/4) as well as rhythmic pattern, but have various tempos in between 80 120 beats per minute.